Wray said he is negotiating to retain the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference tournament, which ended its three-year run in Raleigh this week. He called himself "one of the few fighting for you" in addressing conference officials.

But MEAC Commissioner Dennis Thomas said it's pretty much "a done deal" that the conference would find a new home for its tournament next year. Four to five other cities have expressed interest in the tournament, he said.

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AM is Back to Being ImmaculateMar 14, 2008

colliedaveMar 13, 2008

With the MEAC wanting the city to pay from them to come, rather than vice-versa, and considering the number of fans probably can fill a movie theater, its time to tell them to take a hike

audit is regulatingMar 13, 2008

The MEAC is not going to be able to compete with the ACC tournament. The MEAC did very well in Richmond, VA a couple of years ago. But there is very little fan base in the Raleigh area. Will be sad to see it go, but it will fair better in another city.

whatelseisnewMar 13, 2008

I saw some film of one of the games the other night on the news. There were very few people watching the game. I don't know if attendance was that light during the entire tournament, but if it was then I don't see how Raleigh would make any money on this.

chanceMar 13, 2008

**amvaugha**Sorry to burst your bubble but those are severely inflated numbers you've presented. In addition, you neglected to list the kickbacks MEAC requires ... kickbacks which are given to no other tournament, not even tournaments that bring in much larger amounts of revenue. Outside of the fact the stadium is always close to empty ... just watch the news and you can see that. Raleigh has gone above and beyond to try and please MEAC. They have done more for MEAC than they have done for CIAA, NCAA, CASL or even the first Stanley Cup run in 2004.

Doctor DataclerkMar 13, 2008

I don't buy into the theoretical revenue that these tournaments supposedly bring in. If they were truly so good for the local economy, Raleigh would try to keep it.

domonickjMar 13, 2008

It's obvious that Raleigh doesn't care whether the MEAC stays here or not! They let the CIAA tourney get away to Charlotte, and looks like the same for the MEAC. It's a shame! Charlotte drew $12 million in revenue this year from the CIAA but nobody here cares about that. They'd rather lose money than to have to deal with the historically black tournaments. Shows me how the powers that be in Raleigh still think...They'd rather tax the heck out of the citizens instead!

AM is Back to Being ImmaculateMar 13, 2008

The MEAC made more than $4 million in revenue for businesses last year and almost $350,000 in hotel, food and other taxes to the city.